comment policy

Let it be known hereforth that I am not a squasher of dissent.

Here's the thing about having open comments: Don't have them if [and this applies only to people that have comments but complain about them, not those that have comments disabled] you are a) thin-skinned, b) have a problem with people disagreeing with you or c) have an ego the size of Bill O'Reilly's. It's just not going to work out for you. You're better off with an email form so we don't have to be witness to your deleting comments or throwing a hissy fit when someone doesn't think you're the best thing to happen to blogs since...since...whenever.

Regarding this phenomenon of people deleting comments and playing revisionist historian on their sites, I have changed the wording in my own comments to fit what I believe is the true spirit of having an open forum embedded on your personal wesbite.

Comments

Your comment policy is fucking stupid.

heh. just testing.

Here's the thing about anonymous commenting. If you dont like them, turn them off. It's really easy to do. There are a few sites I visit that allow anonymous comments, but if someone leaves one, they get called a coward.

And if you want to get really restrictive on your comments, get a blogging tool that requires user registration and verification, like pMachine. (I think MT-Pro will have this too)

As for myself, I heart the delete button. But I heart even more my new toy -- revising troll's comments so that they praise me instead.* It's not as if the world was missing anything by not reading the umpteenth person's opinion that I am a "fucking bitch." And anyway, it always results in emails or further comments that are hilariously unglued. These get added to the "Hate Mail" page for further mockery. I love playing with troll's heads.

*I don't do that much, though -- only for "special cases." Site rebuilds are such a pain.

I love anonymous comments. They are very often 1) stupid; 2) not as anonymous as the poster thinks; and 3) fun to play with.

That said, I never delete comments on my site. The one time I deleted 2 comments, I got reamed, still am getting reamed actually. Suppose it was my own fault because I forgot to turn comments off on the post in the first place, but these 2 people acted as if I'd just killed their mother. One was a "friend" (no longer because I deleted "what's going on here?") and one was a bitch (same comment).

I love comments, especially the ones that run off in weird tangents or result in civil exchanges. I think I've only deleted one comment from my place, and that was because it was nothing more than an advertisement for another site that had absolutely nothing to do with the post.

I have open comments, too. People can say about me what they want, words don't break bones, so I prefer to let them talk and show the world what babbling idiots they are. Til now, it was all in a way I could either laugh and make fun about or just let it stay there.

Trolls can get private information without your permission, Faith. But that's not the point...If you're gonna have open comments, then don't manipulate them just so you look good to others. I'm looking right at the beginning of the morning when I say that.

I said I'd never delete any comments, but I had to amend that when people started impersonating other people in my comments section. That's uncool. Other than that, I really don't care what people say about me. Words on a screen, that's all.

I've only yanked or edited comments that directly insulted other commenters. I want everyone to feel welcome to play in the sandbox, but when the shit starts to fly (which is rare, but it happens), then I intervene so that all my guests continue to feel welcome. But I don't really care when the comments are aimed at me -- I wear my "cunt" label proudly. :) But if a comment annoys me in general, I quit reading the comments on that particular post.

Hey, it's your web site, you run it as you see fit. If you tell us we have to do ten things before posting a comment and if we really want to post, then I guess we'll just have to do those ten things first, eh?

I had comments disabled for awhile; my blog gets little traffic anyway, and I ended up merely inconveniencing my readers -- all four of them.

I left the comments turned of for 30 days, but decided to turn them back on. My four readers are still commenting, loyal cusses that they are! ;-)

But since I don't, as a rule, go around stirring up bile (not intentionally anyway), I seldom have flame wars breaking out in my comment boxes.

Life's too short to have to wallow in contentiousness. At least, that's my opn.

I have a stressful job; my blog is my hobby, which I prefer to spend in a calm and happy state of mind, not all riled up about something, Especially something that I can do nothing about. (Like other people's behavior!) Okay, enuff outta me!

And about your political "category," the people that seem to have a problem with you or your views are the people who insist on pidgeonholing others into convenient slots. Maybe you just don't fit the mold. But you knew that already, right?

Ann Coulter is the reincarnation of Hitler with a Cunt. She is a filty lying vile hate-filled Republicunt Bitch Queen from Totalitarian Hell.
Perhaps the Anti-Christ has come in the form of this Satanic Blond to help set up the next fascist hell on earth.

As you can tell, I'm not reserving my right to Hate the Evil Spawn of Lucifer as much as she hates me. May she be on the next Jet that plows into the Ground even if I'm standing on the spot it hits.